The present invention relates to an automatic industrial machine suited to process pears, so that the latter may be conserved and/or utilised in order to prepare fruit-salads or other confectionery products, ice-creams, or other foods.
The Italian patent No. 1296742, corresponding to the application PCT/IT98/00286 which was filed on Oct. 16, 1998, (both to the same applicant A.B.L. s.r.l.), teaches that during automatic processing of pears, the latter must first be fed and oriented, and later on peeled, cored, and cut into segments.
It is well known that the pears, in order to be processed automatically, must be divided up into groups (xe2x80x9ccalibrationxe2x80x9d) with dimensions lying between a minimum and a maximum value. Moreover, it is known that notwithstanding this subdivision, any lot of pears to be processed inevitably includes a percentage of pears which, due to:
incorrect orientation,
shape irregularity,
different degree of ripening,
other unforeseeable effects,
is spoilt and therefore irremediably discarded, thereby obtaining at the end of the process, a percentage of edible product which depends on the variable percentage of product which becomes unusable. Furthermore, it is known that in the final step of the processing cycle, consisting in the removal (xe2x80x9cseed cellingxe2x80x9d) of the central core from the edible segments, a further product waste is generated, due to the difficulty in ensuring this removal; moreover, it is known that a further waste percentage is caused by an irregular and non uniform peeling.
A main objectxe2x80x94but not the only objectxe2x80x94of the present invention, is to separate from the other pears, by recovering them, all pears which do not correspond to a predefined size, which are irregular in shape, or which are not correctly oriented.
Another object of the present invention is to ensure the detachment that is the separation, of the core from the edible parts.
A further object is to ensure a concentric coring with respect to the woody and cartilaginous part of the pear, and a regular and uniform peeling as well.
Still a further object of the present invention is to allow also the processing of pears which are somewhat ripe and delicate, without spoiling them.
These and further objects are attained with a machine according to the present invention, comprising several processing stations, wherein in each of these stations there is performed a processing step following the preceding one, said steps including feeding, orientation, peeling, and final cutting into segments; the machine being characterised in that it comprises: a device suited to xe2x80x9creadxe2x80x9d the orientation and deformity of the pear, in order to stop the pear or, otherwise, allow continuation of its processing; a device which discharges pears which cannot be processed, onto a conveyor belt or into a hopper, so as to allow their recovery; a positioning device, for accurately positioning the pears before peeling; a pear feeder, which ensures the presence of a single, horizontally arranged pear, in a precise reference position; a rotary pneumatic distributor, suited to feed compressed air to air cylinders used to actuate a plurality of pear centering pliers; a device for coring and cutting the pear into segments, provided with holes of very small diameter, which allow to safely separate the core from the edible parts after the cutting operation has been performed; a cam, which imparts to a peeling mill a movement corresponding to the pear contour; a knockout device of the xe2x80x9ccarrotxe2x80x9d, which comprises the flower and stem of the pear, said device being actuated by compressed air during the expulsion, and giving rise to a negative pressure for the return to the starting position.